Code of Federal Regulations Title 46. Shipping § 46.166.01 Approval of nautical school ships

(a) Under 46 U.S.C. 7315, graduation from a nautical school vessel may be substituted for the service requirements for able seaman and qualified member of the engine department endorsements on merchant mariner credentials or merchant mariner's documents.

(b) It has been made to appear to the satisfaction of the Commandant that the school ships operated by the States in which they are located;  namely, by the California Maritime Academy, Great Lakes Maritime Academy at Northwestern Michigan College, Maine Maritime Academy, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, New York State Maritime College, and Texas Maritime Academy, and by the United States Merchant Marine Academy, the United States Naval Academy, and the United States Coast Guard Academy, have adopted a course of study for their students complying with the rules prescribed by the Commandant, and a system of instruction adequate to equip the deck and engineering students theoretically and physically in the rudiments of seamanship and navigation necessary to qualify the graduates for the rating of “able seamen” and in all branches of marine engineering necessary to qualify the graduates for the rating of “qualified member of the engine department,” respectively.

(c) The school ships operated by the State organizations and the Federal academies named in paragraph (b) of this section are hereby approved and their graduates, if meeting the other qualifications required by law and regulations promulgated thereunder, are entitled to the rating of able seamen or qualified members of the engine department and to be certified as such.

(d) A graduate of any of those school ships, if meeting the other qualifications required by law and regulations promulgated thereunder, is also entitled to the rating of lifeboatman and to be certified as such.